Pet carriers of varying sizes, shapes, and designs are currently available. Some existing carrier designs include, for example, plastic, hard-shell boxes and large tote bags. Examples of pet carriers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,523,499, 5,931,120, and 3,547,079.
Although pet carriers may be used as kennels for animals, they are typically used to transport animals from point to point in private vehicles or public transportation vehicles, such as planes, buses, and trains.
Animals are sometimes kept in pet carriers for extended periods of time. When transporting an animal in a private vehicle, the pet owner may choose to keep the animal in the pet carrier if the animal has a tendency to wander about the vehicle. An unrestrained animal may lodge itself in hard to reach or unsafe places, or distract the operator of the vehicle. When traveling in a public transportation vehicle, for the safety of the other passengers and for the safety of the animal, the pet owner may be required to keep the animal in the pet carrier for the duration of the trip. In addition, at certain destinations, such as a veterinarian's office, the pet owner may be required to keep the animal in the pet carrier even after arriving.
Being confined in a pet carrier, even for a short duration, can be a disquieting experience for many animals. Particularly on long trips, animals can become anxious and unsettled within the pet carrier. Often, however, the reassuring touch of the pet owner's hand can calm the animal. As a result, pet owners often desire to insert a hand into the pet carrier to provide assurance to the animal. In addition to calming the animal, a pet owner may also desire to insert a hand into the pet carrier to feed the animal or arrange other items in the pet carrier, such as an animal toy or blanket.
Prior art pet carriers generally include access doors that provide access to the interior space of the carriers to allow the pet owner to place the animal into, and remove the animal from, the pet carrier. Typical access doors include doors composed of rigid wire crossed bars, or flap-covered openings secured by a zipper. Such access doors allow the pet owner to insert their hand into the pet carrier. When such access doors are opened to allow access to the interior of the carrier, however, they may also permit the animal to escape from the pet carrier. Depending on the animal's surroundings, an escaped pet could pose a hazard to itself, other animals, or persons in the immediate vicinity. For example, in a car, an unrestrained animal could distract the driver and cause a collision. In a veterinarian's office, an unrestrained animal could come into contact with, and potentially injure other animals, or be injured by other animals. In an open location, the pet could escape from the area and desert the pet owner.
In addition to an access door, many pet carriers also have small holes in the sides of the carrier. The small holes are generally designed to provide ventilation for the animal and only provide limited access to the interior of the pet carrier. Such holes are generally only large enough to allow a pet owner to insert one or two fingers into the carrier. Accordingly, access to the interior of the pet carrier through the ventilation holes is usually quite limited. Oftentimes, if the animal is positioned away from one side of the carrier, the pet owner will not be able to reach the animal through the ventilation holes on that side.
Providing an open hole in the exterior of a pet carrier which is large enough to allow a pet owner to insert a hand into the pet carrier, but also small enough to prevent an animal from escaping, is not a practical option. Most pet carriers are intended to be used for animals in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Moreover, the size of a given animal will change as it ages from new-born to adult. Therefore, a portal that might be small enough to prevent one animal from escaping might be large enough to allow another animal, or the same animal earlier in its life cycle, to escape from the carrier. In addition, because animals, and particularly cats, can squeeze through small holes, an open hole in a pet carrier intended for pets of various sizes would have to be limited to a very small size, such as the ventilation holes described above. A hole of that size would not be large enough to permit a pet owner to insert a hand into the carrier. A further complicating factor that would need to be taken into account is that different pet owners have different sized hands and therefore a hole that is large enough for some pet owners' hands may be too small for other pet owners.
Some pet carriers that are constructed from flexible materials, such as canvas, have one or more openings that may be closed with a zipper or a draw-string. Closing a portal with a zipper or a draw-string, however, will not prevent the animal from escaping when the portal is opened. Although both a zipper and a draw-string can be used to limit the portal to a size that is only slightly larger than the pet owner's hand, the zipper or draw-string could inadvertently be opened too far, allowing the animal to escape from the pet carrier. In addition, a zipper is particularly dangerous for pets with fur because the animal's fur may catch in the zipper when the zipper is closed.